On the one hand, we all clamor for more innovation, more new options when it comes to the process of moving beyond the desk phone. So is this a significant advance in the evolution of Unified Communications? Probably it's more of an incremental step, maybe even a bit of a sidelight. 'It's a large base to work with already.' For now, Cisco provides Logitech a strong enough addressable market: 'Cisco is the leader in desk phones aand understands what makes a desk phone unique,' Kintz said. Logitech may consider building a comparable product for these other companies, but there would need to be a broader standards effort to create a single keyboard that would work with all of them, Kintz said.

The catch is that this keyboard works only with Cisco Jabber if you have a mixed environment, its keys won't control, say, a Microsoft Lync or Avaya one-X soft client. The emphasis was on designing an experiece that would be 'dead simple' and take the functions that are easier to do manually than by hunting and clicking with a mouse, Kintz said. He says Logitech has been trialing the keyboard in health care and financial environments, where users like traders and nurses often share stations. Red-outlined keys turn green when in use.Īccording to Eric Kintz, senior VP and GM at Logitech for Business, the likely use cases are in hot-desking environments, either generic office-hoteling type of setups, or industry vertical-specific cases. The little LCD screen to their immediate left displays Caller ID, and the 3 buttons to the left of the LCD screen let you choose your input device-headset, handset, or speaker phone. The red-outlined keys below them mute the video and audio.

The red-outlined key at far left is the voice mail retrieval key the green-outlined keys at top right are to answer a call (right) and put a call on hold (left). Logitech today announced what it's calling the UC Solution for Cisco 725-C, the highlight of which is a USB keyboard that includes nine hard keys for the following telephony/video functions: That's what Logitech has done in an integration with Cisco for the latter's Jabber client.

Here's one way to potentially get rid of the desk phone: Put the most convenient, ergonomic features of the phone into the PC keyboard, and make it control a soft client.

Logitech keyboard commands